U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R2) and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (R1) attend the U.S.-China high-level strategic dialogue in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., March 18, 2021. (Photo: AP)

Washington's approach toward Beijing under President Donald Trump was a "recipe for American failure" and the Biden administration needs to "seriously rethink" that approach, former Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahbubani said recently.

The Trump administration's China policy hardened a consensus among both Republicans and Democrats that "China is at root an adversary that must be thwarted," Mahbubani wrote in an essay published in March on Global Asia, a quarterly publication of the Seoul-based East Asia Foundation.

Mahbubani, currently a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, said the United States will head toward a disaster if the Biden administration continues Trump's policy on China.